Agency aims to recoup costs of upgrades to four treatment plants, including one in Temecula

One of the region's primary providers of sewer service could
raise rates this summer.

Eastern Municipal Water District's board of directors is set to
vote Wednesday on a plan that would increase rates 81 cents per
month on July 1 for 210,000 customers, including most of the homes
and businesses in Temecula, Murrieta, French Valley, Hemet and
Winchester.

For those in Temecula, Murrieta and French Valley, the change
would amount to a 3.3 percent increase on the current monthly
charge of $24.30.

The meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the district office, 2270
Trumble Road in Perris.

Area residents last saw a sewer rate increase in January 2009,
said Eastern spokesman Peter Odencrans.

The district also provides drinking water in a 542-square-mile
service area that is home to 700,000 people.

Odencrans said the district is proposing to increase rates to
cover the cost of upgrading treatment plants in Temecula, San
Jacinto, Moreno Valley and Perris.

The improvements are needed to keep the four plants in good
working order, he said, and 37 percent of the rate increase is a
result of tightened air-quality regulations by the South Coast Air
Quality Management District.

The construction projects have created a $4.4 million gap
between current sewer revenues and district payments on the money
it borrowed for the improvements, Odencrans said. He said a rate
increase of $1.82 per month would be required to cover that
gap.

However, because of the slow economy, Odencrans said the
district is proposing to add a little less than half that amount to
bills for the time being.

"We're trying to minimize the impact on the customers at this
time," he said. "There will be future increases to cover the
remaining amount."

Those increases will be added over the next two years, he said,
with the next one probably coming around July 2012.

Odencrans said the rate increase is not geared toward increasing
treatment-system capacity.

"This is not expansion. This is not for any growth," he
said.

Expansion projects are funded by fees for new homes and
businesses that connect to the district's system, he said.

This summer's potential rate increase wouldn't affect every
customer within the Eastern service area.

Odencrans said 11,000 customers in Menifee and Perris won't see
rates rise because they have already been paying for upgrades to
the plant that treats their sewage.

"They're already paying on some general obligation bonds for
replacement and upgrades at the Perris Valley Reclamation Plant,"
he said.

However, Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, which serves
a large chunk of the Interstate 15 corridor is not.

Greg Morrison, a spokesman for the district, said it has no
plans for an increase for the next two years. The district provides
sewer service to 40,000 customers in Lake Elsinore, Canyon Lake,
Horsethief Canyon, Wildomar and a small section of northern
Murrieta.